Ronata's room at the walker farm

"I have 3 suits. You might have to alter them just a bit to fit, but you can borrow one of mine if you want," Khaat said. "Only one of mine fits right now. The others are, well, too big." She happened to look over at Brian briefly and she saw his protective glance her way. She tried to ignore it. She knew his thoughts. She had come just entirely too close to dying, and being way underweight had been a part of it. She had regained some of that weight, but she was still more slender than she had been when she bought the suits. The third one had been recent from her mother because she needed to be able to use Brian's pool to get her strength back.

"Come with me, and I'll get you one."

"He was married," Khaat said rather calmly, trying to be respectful of both the question and of Janet's memory. "His wife is dead. He has a son and he is also the guardian for a young orphaned boy almost the same age as his son. He's had a hard time trying to deal with suddenly being a single father and finding himself in a new country and having to start over again. I presume he told you my parents live next door to him. I think that's helped for him to have friends so closeby."

She went into her room, which still was the master suite of the mansion, and opened a drawer in the bureau. She took out three bathing suits. She laid a fushia colored one of the bed for herself. There were two more. They were all one piece suits simply because Khaat did not like bikinis. It was personal preference alone. One of the suits she offered Ronata to try was royal blue. The other was red. She had liked them both when they had fit her. "Will either the blue one or the red one do?" Khaat asked. "I'm sure I have an extra sarong to wrap around your waist as a skirt for a coverup." She looked deeper in her drawer and found a beautiful sarong that was a summery floral print. "There. That's the one I use with those two suits." She found the one for her own deep pink suit that was mix of green and white with a tropical print of parrots, palm fronds and beautiful tropical flowers. "I might have an extra pair of flipflops if you need it. I generally just go barefoot."

"Yes, the two of you have some things in common," Khaat smiled. "And he is a nice guy. He's a good friend. Let me take you to one of the guest rooms where you can change. You can leave your clothes there while you're in the pool. No one will bother them. Oh, and we have plenty of sunscreen. Don't worry about that."

Khaat led the way down the hall to a bedroom decorated in sage green and white. It was one she liked. It always looked cool and clean and refreshing to Khaat. If Brian had not so generously given her the fabulous master suite, she might have chosen this light and airy room for herself. "You can change in here," Khaat smiled. "I'm going to go change and I'll see you down by the pool." She left, closing the door, and returned to her own room to change.

Khaat changed clothes and came downstairs, tying a knot in the sarong around her own waist.

"Are we going to do laps today?" Brian asked her.

"I haven't done any in a few days," she sighed. "I may be out of practice."

"That's your own fault," he chided gently. "You know how your father would feel if he knew I'd let you slide on your rehab. We'd better see how far you've slipped. I presume you can keep an eye on things while Steven and I change?"

"Of course," Khaat smiled.

"Come on, Steven," Brian said, bounding up the stairs, motioning Steven to come upstairs. He went to his own room, changed rather quickly and came back down, bringing a couple of bottles of sunscreen and some large beach towels. With a flick of his fingers the sunscreen and towels flew out to the pool chairs. "Well, lets see how much ground we lost. Go start to warm up," he told Khaat.

She went out to the pool and looked at Ronata "You coming in?" she asked. She didn't want to splash her so she got in perhaps a bit more gracefully that she did when she and Brian were alone. She began to do some basic warmup exercises in the pool. If Brian was going to challenge her and push her, she was going to have to be ready.

Khaat knew Brian would be, as always, watching. And when she was in the pool, he pushed her for swimming laps. She had been up to swimming 8 laps because she had worked hard at it. But when she had started back to work, she had stopped exercising in the pool. She had not taken the time for it anymore. She knew Brian and her father had seen the change and were not happy.

She went back to making laps, knowing she could not put Brian off for long. She managed to make 3 laps and felt a cramp seizing up her left calf muscle. She stopped instantly and grabbed onto the side of the pool. Brian was there before she could even start to try to massage the painful cramp out of her leg. "You didn't stretch enough," he said quietly. He lifted her out of the water and sat her on the edge of the pool. "Let me see," he said, laying his hand on her leg. "I did the same amount I always do," she said. "Yes, and that was the problem," he nodded. "You havent' been in the pool for days. You need more stretching than you used to. Your muscles are not as toned as they were. They still look toned, but they arent' standing up to the demands you're placing on them. There. Better?" She nodded. "We'll have to work up at it a bit. Rest your leg a moment and then we'll try again."

"Can't I just have fun?" Khaat sighed.

"Work first, fun later," he ordered, getting up and going back in the house.

"Slave driver," she called to him. She heard him laugh.